That’s just so you’ve got an original to fall back on if things really mess up. Next, download my Lircmap.xml configuration.

wget http://n3wt0n.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/lircmap.xml

Stick the Lircmap.xml file in /usr/share/xbmc/system/

sudo mv lircmap.xml /usr/share/xbmc/system/Lircmap.xml

NOTE: Keep a copy of your configured Lircmap.xml handy. I just turned on XBMC today and found that my remote wasn’t working. My customized Lircmap.xml was overwritten (possibly through an update) so I had to find my configured Lircmap.xml and overwrite the default one again.

irw should show you that your keys map the same way mine did (KEY_PLAY, etc). If they don’t, open up the /usr/share/xbmc/system/Lircmap.xml and replace the KEY_X with whatever irw tells you it is.

irw is the command to test if your IR Remote is working. I’m using a “Windows Vista Certified” MCE remote. irw becomes available when lirc has been installed, so go ahead and install lirc now if you havent’ already.

Now you can give irw a try from the command line. It’ll start listening for button presses from the remote. If you press play and it shows that you pushed the play button (or left arrow, right arrow, stop, pause, etc) and the buttons match then that’s good.

Troubleshooting (like I had to do)

If you do this

sudo dkms -m lirc -v 0.8.3 build

and you get this

Error! This module/version has already been built on: 2.6.24-19-generic
Directory: /var/lib/dkms/lirc/0.8.3/2.6.24-19-generic/x86_64
already exists. Use the dkms remove function before trying to build again.

Then you’ll have to do what it says and use the dkms remove function like this

sudo dkms remove -m lirc -v 0.8.3 --all

followed by

sudo dkms add -m lirc -v 0.8.3

And then pick up from the build stage again. That should set things straight.